"So when I was taking high school Biology back in the 90's, we had
to make these flash cards of varying animal species. My teacher
wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, and my project partners had
a mile-wide streak of mischief in them. We made a card for a giant
star turtle. Made up a genus/species for it, and put down for
'information' that it had four elephants and a discworld on its
back. She never caught it. This may partially explain my love/hate
relationship with biology."

 FlowerGirlPhysicist, on i09

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

02) A LETTER FROM YOUR EDITOR

This is a bit of an early edition, because there are events that
won't wait  plays and other fun Discworld-centric goodness. I do
hope to add more news, views, reviews and whatnot later in the
month, but at the moment I am mostly Newshound-deprived and missing
our Astrologer(s) for the net ten to twelve weeks. Still, the show,.
and the WOSSNAME, must go on!

 Annie Mac, Editor

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

03) NEW RELEASES!

3.1 ASK HIM ABOUT TRAINS

Those lovely folks at Transworld have announced that Raising Steam (the
40th Discworld book) will hitting the bookshops this October:

"It's no secret that Terry has been writing the novel and he
revealed the title earlier this year, but this is the first time we
can officially confirm details of publication. More details to
follow very soon... but in the meantime, we can reveal the book
will see the Disc's first train come steaming into town."

Raising Steam is due out on 24th October 2013. Just in time for my
birthday, then...

To pre-order from Amazon UK in hardcover, at a special-offer price
of £16.50, go to:

Also in October, the Cosgrove Hall/Thames Television partial-
animation adaptation of Truckers is finally coming out on DVD.

First broadcast on telly (ITV) in 1992, Truckers was created by the
Cosgrove Hall studio, who gave us Dangermouse (for which your Editor
is eternally grateful) and of course the animated Soul Music. Voiced
by a stellar cast including Joe McGann, Sir Michael Horden, Brian
Trueman, and Debra Gillett, and tells the story of Masklin and his
fellow nomes working to survive in the world of bigjobs, I mean
humans.

Truckers was formerly available on VHS video, but only in a cut-down
version. This new release contains the entire 13-part series as
originally broadcast.

Truckers will be released on 7th October 2013. Priced at £11.45,
the DVD would make a perfect Hogswatch gift for any small creatures
you know. Or large ones!

A third piece of Pratchetty goodness (A Slip of the Keyboard:
Collected Non-fiction) comes out in October  but that's
apparently *next* October:

"Terry Pratchett has earned a place in the hearts of readers the
world over with his bestselling Discworld series  but in recent
years he has become equally well-known and respected as an outspoken
campaigner for causes including Alzheimer's research and animal
rights. A Slip of the Keyboard brings together for the first time
the finest examples of Pratchett's non fiction writing, both serious
and surreal: from musings on mushrooms to what it means to be a
writer (and why banana daiquiris are so important); from memories of
Granny Pratchett to speculation about Gandalf's love life, and
passionate defences of the causes dear to him.

"With all the humour and humanity that have made his novels so
enduringly popular, this collection brings Pratchett out from behind
the scenes of the Discworld to speak for himself  man and boy,
bibliophile and computer geek, champion of hats, orang-utans and
Dignity in Dying."

A Slip of the Keyboard will be published on 23rd Oct 2014. To pre-
order from Amazon UK in hardcover, at a special-offer price of
£15.99, go to:

Gordon Winter has written to WOSSNAME to tell of a German science
fiction/fantasy club, "Ubermorgenwelt Ulm e.V.", that he co-
administers. U(e)bermorgenwelt  which in my halting Deutsch
translates as "Tomorrow's World" or "World of the Future"  is,
well. I will let Mr Winter explain:

"Our club is interested to inform and fascinate people, especially
kids, about and for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror literature.
Therefore we build up a library in some rooms of an old fortress
here in Ulm. Starting in September last year we already have approx.
6000 books just provided by the members so far. But we also want to
arouse the interest for reading by playing games from these literary
genres. We have a blog were reviews of books and games, which we
have read and played, as well as news about Fantasy and Science
Fiction are published

where also these topics are discussed and books as well as games are
reviewed."

The club was sent a complimentary review copy of the "Guards!
Guards!" board game by co-creator David Brashaw, which was discussed
on their monthly radio show themed for the Discworld's 30th
anniversary. Mr Winter is hoping to write a review for us as well.

For all you technomancers out there... most of us already use the
excellent Ogg file format for our music files. Now there is a new
media player, also honouring Discworld with its name:

"VideoLAN and the VLC development team present VLC 2.0.7
'Twoflower'.

"VLC 2.0 'Twoflower' is a major new version of our popular media
player. With faster decoding on multi-core, GPU, and mobile hardware
and the ability to open more formats, notably professional, HD and
10bits codecs, 2.0 is a major upgrade for VLC. Twoflower has a new
rendering pipeline for video, with higher quality subtitles, and new
video filters to enhance your videos. It supports many new devices
and BluRay Discs (experimental). Completely reworked Mac and Web
interfaces and improvements in the other interfaces make VLC easier
than ever to use. Twoflower fixes several hundreds of bugs, in more
than 7000 commits from 160 volunteers."

Here be a new Discworld fanzine of interest. It's one person's
loving paean to the series and its characters and philosophies, and
features some thought-provoking essays. Available for download in
.pdf form:

www.mediafire.com/download/eyvl6vdfkbrs5q6/the_turtle_moves.pdf

4.4 MAKING CHANGE: WHAT'S YOUR WORTH IN A-M DOLLARS?

Good grief, it's a fantasy and science fiction currency converter!
You can translate amounts in sterling, euros or USA dollars into
assorted currencies including Star Wars or Star Trek Federation
credits, Red Dwarf dollarpounds, Potterverse specie, a number of
game-world and other SF/fantasy currencies -- and yes, Ankh-Morpork
dollars:

"Baxter and Pratchett subtly critique this desire to push the
boundaries of exploration, using the journey of the main character
Joshua Valiente and the setting of a futuristic Earth that is not
too much different from our own to suggest that the impact human
actions have on the environment is much greater than we realise. We
strive for a cleaner environment, and the feeling of being the first
to 'discover' an untouched world, but what right do we have to do so
when we have polluted and altered the planet to such an extent? The
novel is thought-provoking and engaging, but I found it to be less
gripping than other novels in the dystopian genre..."

www.femalefirst.co.uk/books/the-long-earth-300178.html

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

05) IAN STEWART: EXPLAINING THE SCIENCE OF DISCWORLD

In which the TSoD co-author describes, well, the science of
Discworld, with a nod to each of the books in the series and
especially TSoD4:

"The fourth, and most recent, book in the series hinges upon events
in Discworld rather than Roundworld. On the Disc there is an ancient
religion, Omnianism, which believes Discworld is round. Despite all
the evidence, they do not believe in the turtle or the elephants.
Seeing the Roundworld Project as an infringement of their
theological property rights, they launch a legal case to gain
custody. Naturally, the wizards dispute their claim.

"This scenario allows us to examine, in the science chapters, a
variety of issues. In particular, we look at how scientists can try
to infer the shape of their world, or the universe itself, when they
are unable to get outside it and take a direct look. For the Earth,
we can now do that, but scientists mapped out the entire planet long
before we could get into orbit. We still don't have that luxury for
the universe as a whole, and it's hard to see how we could ever get
it.

"The commentary discusses a key feature of science, one that many
non-scientists fail to appreciate: science is mainly about inference
from experiments and theories, not direct observation. The ancient
Greeks inferred the spherical form of the Earth thousands of years
ago, by logical inference from phenomena that they could observe,
such as the planet's shadow on the Moon during an eclipse and the
way boats seemed to sink below the horizon as they headed out to
sea. Today we infer the temperature at the centre of the sun from
our understanding of nuclear reactions, but no person or instrument
has ever been there to check. The majority of scientific knowledge
rests on inference, not on direct observation. Indeed, that's what
theories are for...."

To read the full piece  reproduced on i09 with permission from
Warwick University where Dr Stewart lectures  go to:

"Like its predecessor, The Long War sprawls and rambles in a fashion
that generally pleases more than it frustrates, and is packed with a
vast supporting cast. There's Nelson Azikiwe, a South African
minister mentioned briefly by Lobsang in the last book, who is
recruited by the AI as a kind of advisor. While Joshua and Sally are
trying to find out what's happening to the trolls, a teenage prodigy
named Roberta Golding accompanies a Chinese expedition across
millions of Earths, becoming increasingly overwhelmed by the vast
scale of it all. There are new perils as well: in addition to the
friendly trolls and hostile elves, there are devious kobolds and a
species of sentient dogs. Ultimately the plots having to do with the
troll disappearances and Cmdr. Kauffman's whistle-stop tour and the
war she wants to avert are less important than the exploration that
occurs along the way. They're a means by which Pratchett and Baxter
interrogate humanity's place in the universe, the way we react to
the alien, and our incomplete and arrogant understanding of what
constitutes sentience..."

"Joshua, Sally, Monica, and Lobsang all return, but fantasy author
Terry Pratchett and hard SF writer Stephen Baxter add in many more
significant characters, including a Chinese exploratory crew
transporting a grim, Vulcan-like teenager; a South African
paleontologist/minister following a string of puzzles to an
assignation; and the captain of a dirigible-like military vessel
charged with forcibly reminding the parallel-America colonies that
their homeworld, now styled 'Datum Earth,' still considers them
subject to home rule and taxation. Many of the stories touch briefly
or not at all, and nearly all of them blow by quickly. But two plot
threads contribute to the book's title. In one version of the Long
War, the American vessels sent out to intimidate the parallel
Americas seem likely to touch off an endless series of new American
revolutions. In another, Sally and others fight for the rights of
'trolls,' a sapient, ape-like species of natural steppers that
humans are starting to enslave, outlaw, or otherwise abuse.
Meanwhile, the trolls and other intelligent creatures on the Long
Earth are making their own plans.

"The Long War is frustratingly packed with ideas that don't bear
fruit, situations that don't resolve, and characters who don't spend
enough time onstage to develop. There's grist here for a dozen
separate novels, with topics ranging from the fight to get trolls
legally recognized as sapient (in a plotline reminiscent of H. Beam
Piper's Little Fuzzy) to a face-off between Sally, Monica, Joshua,
and a race of intelligent semi-bipedal canines. Pratchett and Baxter
spend a bare but telling handful of pages on the increasingly
xenophobic, conservative Datum Earth government. Their look at an
American system abandoned to Tea Party-esque rabble-rousers and
their name-calling, contempt-laden rhetoric is timely satire with a
mournful, accusatory edge. And their open mockery of Datum Earth's
version of security theater has as much to do with present politics
as with parallel worlds. But that's just one fleeting impression
among many..."

Mark Nevitt says...
Just finished a fantastic journey, the Long War this book has
everything you would expect from two of the best Sci-Fi/Fantasy
writers out their today...sorry! no spoilers just read Fantastic.
Well done guy's

Susan Craig says...
Thank you for switching on a 12 year old boy to the glorious
pleasures of reading just enjoyment. In just under a month he's
giggled his way through the Bromeliad Trilogy, Johnny and the Dead,
Johnny and the Bomb and Miss Felicity Beedle's World of Poo. He
loves to share the puns with us and has been transformed from a
"reading  MUST I?!" boy to an avid fan of your work.

Cosme Edeline says...
We just finished a game of "Terry Pratchett Discworld: Ankh-Morpork"
and we wanted to say it's a really great game, easy to play, very
fun and spending time in Discworld universe is, as always,
wonderful. (we use to read in French, and played with a french
game). We spend more than 3 hours for our first game (2 people
playing) with an ending full of action :D A small "novel" which
describe the universe and Terry Pratchett writing style would have
been great for non-readers player wanting to discover the Discworld
and a great bonus for Discworld addicts.

Patricia Higgins says...
Thanks for writing such wonderful books, they helped me stay sane
during my 2 years with Agoraphobia!!

Sseveruss Ssnape says...
I've just read my first book of yours, sir, followed quickly by my
second, third, and fourth. And I am in love with you lol. Don't
worry, no bunny boiling here... I just wonder how I could have read
so much and never ever discovered you til now!

Lyndon Davis says...
Loved every word & every character. Who do you imagine the
characters would be played by in a film? For me Justin Long is
Joshua

Adele Hudson says...
I was baking bread yesterday and think I may have found some clues
as to dwarven bread! One, it's probably gluten free and two, it
contains buckwheat flour. While my loaf was far from battle bread,
an enemy would probably say ouch if hit with it.

Chris Rhea says...
I'm sure you get this all of the time, but I want to thank you
Mister Pratchett for your contribution to modern literature. You've
irrevocably altered how I view the world and have given me countless
hours of entertainment!

Crow Cooper says...
to the greatest writer i have ever read may you carry on for a long
time yet. got all the books and love all the characters,,thank you
for your creations

Timothy Unwin says...
Dear terry, i know you are having troubles with wrighting lately, i
am personally very gratefull for the efforts you have made. Your
books are wonderfull, i always dreamed of doing something with them
to show you my love for the diskworld, but everything i have wanted
to do was a failure before i even started. I suffer from depression
and your books have been the single light in this horrible world.

Malcolm Cox says...
I completed my New Year resolution on Saturday - I've re-read all 39
Discworld books, in order, including the "younger readers" books,
Maurice and Last Hero. And I've enjoyed re-re-re-reading every one.
Thank you for the amazing books Terry  they are as fresh as the
first time I read them!

Jason Brockman says...
Thank you Terry Pratchett for your brilliant mind! I'm a 32 year old
man just now discovering your work and I can't help but wonder how
much better off a human being I'd be if I had discovered you sooner!
Keep up the great work!!

Dani Crandall says...
Mr Pratchett, You are such a wonderful writer. Thank you for
bringing so much joy to the lives of my children and myself.

Anna Thomas-Valdez says...
You are one of the best most creative authors I have read you have a
great mind a great talent and I thank you for sharing that talent
with the world

Rachael Hopwood says...
I must buy a signed copy of Sir Pratchetts next Discworld novel. I
will be extremely upset if I never find one. This man is a gift to
literature and imagination, and one of my few hero's of this time.
Thank you, Sir Pratchett, for the life you have created in your
written words.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

08) DISCWORLD PLAYS NEWS

8.1 WYRD SISTERS IN TRURO, CORNWALL

Veryan Players of Truro will present their production of Wyrd
Sisters, directed by Father Douglas Robins, in July and August.

Onewhero Society of Performing Arts is proud to present an amateur
production of Wyrd Sisters, directed by Jolene Kelly & Leonard
Irving.

When: 19th and 20th July 2013. Also there is a Matinee performance
on Sunday 20th July
Venue: Onewhero Society of Performing Arts Theatre, Hall Road,
Onewhero, Auckland, NZ
Time: 8pm (Matinee at 2pm)
Tickets must be purchased and collected from River Traders, 9 George
Street, Tuakau prior to the show(s). For enquiries, call River
Traders on (09) 236 8875.

"Please note that our theatre is non-allocated seating and that we
can seat 99 people. Door sales are only available when shows are not
sold out. To avoid disappointment, book early!

"Onewhero Society of Performing Arts (OSPA) is a well-established
performing arts group located in Onewhero, just twenty minutes drive
from Pukekohe. The group was established in 1949 and has celebrated
over 60 years of performing.

"Our theatre is accessible to wheelchairs and has an induction loop
fitted for those patrons who are hard of hearing. So that we can
make sure that you have the best possible experience when visiting
our theatre, please let us know at the time of booking whether these
facilities could be of use to you. For more information, please call
Kathleen Solomon on (09) 232 8494."

[Editor's note: ticket price(s) does not seem to be listed anywhere
I can find, but as this show is taking place in the North Island
rather than the West End, I imagine they will be reasonable!]

8.3 REMINDER: WYRD SISTERS IN CHICAGO

The MorBacon Theatre Company's production of Wyrd Sisters happens
this month! Successfully funded by a Kickstarter appeal, this
company is certainly in the spirit: "If you haven't got your
tickets, get them now! Seats are filling, crossbows are being armed,
and corsets are being tied!"

And now for something completely different... a review of an ongoing
presentation of Going Postal, in which the actors are rather smaller
than one would expect:

"When first entering the Bierkeller theatre, what I expected was
rather a glorified school play  you know the sort, the children
standing sheepishly with mumbled voices, their faces blank and
expressionless. Well, wasn't I surprised! Even the youngest kids
had mastered the art of projection, their valiant efforts and
enthusiasm was very encouraging as the three hour show went on. The
ITV West Television Workshop gives young people from the age five
upwards experience in performance and production skills. This
production really showed how much hard work is put in.. The story
itself was very amusing in Pratchett's typically surrealist, fantasy
manner. At some points the dialogue did seem to drag a little, but
the enthusiasm of the young cast helped them pull off the sometimes
tricky script with apparent ease. There were a few mistakes here and
there but overall the performance went smoothly. The script was
delivered with surprising professionalism and flashes of hilariously
comic acting helped to gloss over the more glaring errors. This
production of Going Postal was not unlike a professional performance
 except with shorter actors and squeakier voices..."

A truly fascinating tale of an amazing con man with an amazing name,
who sold sizzle without sausages for over fifty years:

"Before 1910, there had appeared in Northeast Wyoming an individual
named Albert C. Grandbouche (1889-1979). Grandbouche would later
prove to be a con man extraordinaire. He had the amazing talent of
getting persons to give him money in exchange for illusory but
tempting promises. In 1920, he had already separated W. P. Ricketts
and J. F. Waisner of the Royal Cattle Company from $20,529.86. All
they had to show for the money was a judgment againt Grandbouche.
Thirty-Seven years later, their heirs were still attempting to
collect the judgment. Grandbouche was a director of the Citizens'
Bank of Upton and developed with a plan for resuscitating the
People's Bank.

"Grandbouche must have had a golden tongue. Major shareholders,
including the President of the People's Bank, were convinced to
surrender their stock with Grandbouche taking over effective control
of the Bank. On October 15, 1921, the Bank was reorganized a second
time with Grandbouche paying for the bank stock $17,000.00:
$5,000.00 by checks drawn on the Citizen's Bank of Upton of which
Grandbouche was a director and $12,000.00 in the form of a promisory
note. Apparently unknown to the bank's former shareholders, the
checks were rubber...

"In 1933, Grandbouche appeared in Denver. There he conducted a Ponzi
scheme under which victims were induced to invest funds in several
companies, 'Collateral Bankers, Inc.,' 'American Industrial Loan
Company,' 'Ameican Fidelity,' and 'Bush & Company,' under the
promise of seven percent guaranteed returns. To stave off investors
checks were kited between the different companies. Although in
Wyoming, Grandbouche may have cheated the comparatively affluent, in
Colorado, he was no respecter of age or modest circumstances. In one
instance, he cheated an eighty-year old maiden lady of her life
savings which she had earned as a housekeeper and cook... By the
1940's, Grandbouche had changed his name to 'Al Grandbush' and was
in Walsenburg, Colorado. There he operated as a stock broker under
the name of 'Interstate Livestock Company.' Among those who ran into
a financial debacle dealing with Grandbuouche was a Texas stockman
named Eagle..."

The City of Small Gods Terry Pratchett Fan Club is a group for fans
in Adelaide and South Australia. TCoSGTPFC meets on the last
Thursday of the month from 6.30pm at the Ed Castle, 233 Currie St.
Their next meeting will be on Thursday 25th July. Details,
discussions and organisation of extra events (e.g. as play outings)
can be found via their email mailing list; to sign up, go to:

The Broken Vectis Drummers meet on the first Thursday of every month
from 7.30pm at The Castle pub in Newport, Isle of Wight. The next
meeting will probably be on Thursday 8th August 2013, but do email
(see below) to check. All new members and curious passersby are very
welcome! For more info and any queries, contact:

The Wincanton Omnian Temperance Society (WOTS) meets on the first
Friday of every month at the famous Bear Inn from 7pm onwards.
Visitors and drop-ins are always welcome! The next WOTS meeting will
(probably) be on Friday 9th August 2013.

*

The next meeting of the Broken Drummers, London's original Discworld
meeting group, will be from 7pm on Monday 5th August at the Monkey
Puzzle, 30 Southwick Street, London W2 1JQ. Note the new web
address:

The Northern Institute of the Ankh-Morpork and District Society of
Flatalists, a Pratchett fangroup, have been meeting on a regular
basis since 2005 but is now looking to take in some new blood
(presumably not in the non-reformed Uberwald manner). The Flatalists
normally meet at The Narrowboat Pub in Victoria Street, Skipton, N
Yorks, to discuss "all things Pratchett" as well as having quizzes
and raffles.

Details of future meetings are posted on the Events section of the
Discworld Stamps forum:

Drummers Downunder meet on the first Monday of every month in Sydney
at Maloneys, corner of Pitt & Goulburn Streets, at 6.30pm. The next
meeting will (probably) be on Monday 5th August 2013. For more
information, contact Sue (aka Granny Weatherwax):

Martin Wallace, creator of the fun-tastic board game "Ankh-Morpork",
has designed a new Discworld-themed game:

"The Witches is the second Discworld game designed by Martin
Wallace, after 2011's Discworld: Ankh-Morpork. The board games
are based on characters and events in the fantasy universe of the
bestselling Discworld book series by Terry Pratchett, with game
artwork by Peter Dennis. In The Witches, players take on the role of
trainee witches, learning their craft and tackling whatever pun-
related problems daily life in Discworld provides. Players are aided
by well-known characters (Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat
Garlick among others) along the way. The game is billed as a more
'family friendly' and cooperative than Ankh-Morpork. The game is for
up to four players, or can actually be played as a solitary quest.
The game plays in about 60 minutes, and carries an MSRP of $50.00."

Mayfair Games will release The Witches in the USA in October. The
Discworld Emporium will also be selling The Witches in October for
those of us on t'other side of the pond.